A plane full of tourists were forced to flee on emergency slides at Toronto's Pearson Airport on Friday night after flames engulfed the aircraft next to them on the tarmac.

The WestJet Boeing 737 had just arrived back from Cancun, Mexico, with 168 passengers on board when an empty Sunwing aircraft, which was being pushed back by third party ground handlers, crashed into it.

The collision caused the empty Sunwing jet to catch fire and terrified passengers on the other plane watched as flamed engulfed one of its wings.

They screamed in panic in their seats before being rushed off the aircraft on the emergency slides, into the freezing Toronto night.

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WestJet said their plane, which had just landed from Cancun, was stationary when it was hit by the Sunwing aircraft

Gustavo Lobo, a passenger on the WestJet flight, said passengers heard a crunch when the other aircraft collided with it.

'Out of nowhere there was an audible crunch and the plane rocked slightly,' reports CBC News.

'We looked out the window and saw that the plane had backed up into us. Everyone was a little shocked and kind of chuckling at the situation.'

Passengers aboard the WestJet plane can be heard screaming and panicking as they watch the flames at Toronto Pearson International Airport

The damage to the rear of the Sunwing plane at Toronto Pearson International Airport after the collision

Passengers could be heard screaming after the collision caused a fire

'Panic set in when [we saw] what seemed to be fuel spewing from the crash.

'After a couple of seconds the entire thing ignited and it was chaos inside the plane.

'People screaming and panicking all while the flight attendants shouted to try and control the situation.'

Spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said the WestJet passengers were evacuated from the aircraft via emergency slides and all were safely in the terminal and clearing customs shortly after the collision.

'Due to the position of the aircraft on the laneway, WestJet guests required evacuation via emergency slide.

'Emergency crews were on hand and responded immediately,' Westjet said in a statement.

The smoke and flames after the collision. One passenger said 'out of nowhere there was an audible crunch and the plane rocked slightly'

Sunwing said there were no crew members on its aircraft, and it was being towed by the airline's ground handling service provider at the time of the incident

Sunwing said the incident was caused by ground handlers working for Swissport, a third party company.

'We are aware of an incident that occurred shortly after 6pm this evening at Toronto Pearson Airport where a Sunwing aircraft, under tow by our ground handling service provider, came into contact with another aircraft.

'There were no Sunwing crew or passengers onboard at the time of the incident. We are awaiting further information from Swissport and will provide more details as they become available,' they said in a Twitter statement.

There was no immediate response from Swissport when contacted by DailyMail.com.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority said fire crews extinguished a small fire on the Sunwing aircraft and some flight operations were affected by the incident